This invention relates generally to hinged housings for miniature electronic equipment and more particularly to portable radiotelephones which utilize hinged housings for folding elements.
Telephones utilizing two housing elements, connected with some type of hinging mechanism, are common in wireline telephone sets and have become more common in landline wireless extension phones. This folding arrangement allows for the telephone to be more compact when the two housings are folded upon themselves.
Radiotelephones which utilize this type of design typically have most of the electronics within the larger of the two housings. The smaller housing, which will be called the flip element hereinafter, normally contains the microphone and ringing element. Because the microphone and ringing element must make electrical connection to the electronics within the body of the radiotelephone, a means of connection through the hinge area is needed. For good acoustical performance, the flip element must be held in an optimum position relative to the body. In so doing, the microphone is positioned a desired distance from the user's mouth.
This hinging design may have the capability of producing an on-hook condition when the flip element is in the "closed" position and an off-hook condition when the flip element is "opened" to its extended position. A radiotelephone which employed the position of the flip element for control purposes was described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,772. Additionally, some cordless telephones which offer the hinged flip element design have been offered in the United States. One such cordless phone is manufactured by Radio Shack as Duofone model no. ET-415. For the Duofone ET-415, two shafts with cored centers connect the flip element to the main housing or body. The wires are dressed from inside the flip element, through the shaft centers, and into the body. The flip element is held in the open or closed position by two spring loaded fingers which press on the flip element and into depressions on the flip element exterior. The off-hook and on-hook switching is performed by a raised section on the external surface of the flip element which depresses a lever of a switch in the Duofone body when the flip element is closed upon the body. However, by performing the detenting and switching functions external to the housings, the possibility exists that small foreign objects can jam the spring loaded fingers to prevent the switching or detenting operation. Furthermore, the fingers could also be broken which would prevent proper operation.